Vladivostok to see state-of-the-art medical center

A total of three billion rubles ($122.5 million) will be allocated for constructing a federal trauma and orthopedic center in Vladivostok, the most up-to-date medical institution of its kind in the Russian Far East, a press statement from the regional administration said Monday.

The project is aimed to provide the Far East’s residents with advanced technology and services in orthopedic surgery and prosthetic replacement which are currently rendered mostly by medical clinics in Russia’s central part. Construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in May 2008 and take less than a year.

Two billion rubles ($81.6 million) of the project’s budget will be provided by the federal government, the statement said. The remaining billion rubles will come from Primorye’s budget and will be used to create the center’s infrastructure, including energy and water supplies, a drainage system and access roads.

The building, to be built with block construction technology, will consist of 380 building blocks, each 24 meters (79 feet) long and weighing 40 metric tons. The blocks will be purchased from Japan and will be delivered beginning in January.

The Vladivostok-based trauma and orthopedic surgery center will be one of 15 institutions to be built in Russia’s regions as part of the national program ‘Health’, the statement reported.